It’s starting to sound like a broken record: Serena Williams has been shocked again at a Grand Slam. This time doing the upset honors was Alize Cornet who overcame a first set shellacking to stun the 5-time Wimbledon champion 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 during a rainy third round Saturday.

“She kept her unforced errors really low,” said Serena who will remain No. 1 despite her poor 2014 Slam record. “I think I made a few errors too many. You know, she was going for her shots … she played really well today.”

Cornet entered the match having never beaten a Top 20 player at a Grand Slam. And she had reached just one career Grand Slam fourth round before. But she had confidence having upset Serena in Dubai earlier in the year.

“If somebody would have told me a couple years ago that I would be in second week here in Wimbledon, beating Serena, I wouldn’t have believed it,” the 24-year-old Cornet said. “What a victory. It’s the best way to get the second week.”

The loss sends the 17-time winner out before the quarterfinals at her third Slam this year and for the fourth time in her last five Slams.

“I think everyone in general plays the match of their lives against me. So I’m pretty sure that the next match, it won’t be the same,” said Serena who lost to Lisicki a year ago. “I just have to always, every time I step on the court, be a hundred times better.”

Serena and her elder sister Venus who lost yesterday are still in the doubles. But the loss means both top seeds in the women’s draw are out leaving lone former champions Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova as the tournament favorites.

Sabine Lisicki held the 6-4, 1-1 lead over Ana Ivanovic when their match was halted due to darkness on Court 1. Oddly, about 45 minutes later the Slava Shvedova-Madison Keys match suffered the same fate with Shvedova ahead by a set and on a brink of a breaker against the ailing American.

On the men’s side it was business as usual. Under the roof, Rafael Nadal went down a set to the lightly-regarded Mikhail Kushikin before roaring back to win 6-7, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. It was Nadal’s third straight win from a set down at Wimbledon this year.

7-time champion Roger Federer has no trouble at all with Santiago Giraldo crushing the Colombian 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.

“It’s great,” Federer told BBC television. “I’m very pleased. It’s always good to keep moving on. Last year I lost in the second round (against Sergiy Stakhovsky), so I’m aware of tough draws. I’m always worried about the first week, getting to the second one; then the grass plays quite differently.

“[Next week] it’s really about maintaining a good level of play. Physically I’m in good shape. I’ve got to keep playing aggressively and serving well. You’ve got to do that on this surface, and keep the points short.”

On Tuesday Federer will meet Tommy Robredo in a rematch of the Spaniard’s stunner at the US Open last year. Robredo knocked out 2013 semifinalist Jerzy Janowicz in five sets sending the Pol fall out of the Top 50.

Nineteen-year-old sensation Nick Kyrios will be next for Nadal after the Australian ousted 20-year-old Jiri Vesely in four sets.

Canadian Milos Raonic joined Bouchard in week two after blasting 30 aces in a straight set win over 2013 quarterfinalist Lukas Kubot.

The Stan Wawrinka-Denis Istomin and John Isner-Feliciano Lopez matches were pushed to Monday due to the five plus hours of rain today. Also to be finished Monday is the match between lucky loser Simone Bolelli and Kei Nishikori who are knotted at 3-3 in the fifth set.

Per tradition, players will enjoy a day off Sunday before returning for third and fourth round play on Monday.

“[Next week] it’s really about maintaining a good level of play. Physically I’m in good shape. I’ve got to keep playing aggressively and serving well. You’ve got to do that on this surface, and keep the points short.”
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Most shots at Wimbledon are 3-4 shots including the serve. If you make it any shorter, you should switch to ping pong.

The best thing for them to do would’ve been to have isner and wawrinka get done with their matches Sunday early morning. Because both winners would’ve played on Sunday, it’s not so unfair to have them play their next match on Monday.

Damn these stupid traditions that Wimbledon has which make things overly unfair.

it’s too bad serena lost today….i was hoping for a genie/serena 1/4 final.

but on that note, it was kind of sad how the ESPN/NBC commentators went on and on and on about serena losing. they all seem to think that she is going to win everything and are in real shock when she loses.

thank goodness Aussie darren cahill is around to temper all the US-ness.

loved it that jim parsons was on the show today…as a genie fan no less!

I too get so disgusted with the media…..they go on and on about a loss. I know she was #1 seed and all, but Serena is 32 years old and can’t keep up running down balls continually. She was sucking air and looked worn out. Age is catching up with her, imo.
I’m going to support Genie now. I like her a lot!

Well it was quite expected that Rafa would have it easy against Kush. But in the first set, Kush went for broke and started taking chances in both flanks and it just clicked. In many of the rallies, surprisingly, he was able to dominate especially in the first set. But then his game withered away and Rafa ran through the match in quick time. It did appear that Rafa has discovered his groove in Grass and was looking quite impressive and I could see the reminiscence of his 2010 form here although it can be argued that he is yet to be tested in this tournament. All said and done, Rafa is into the second week of Wimbledon after a gap of two years and from now on he would be quite a different player and the man to beat.

Roger too had it easy against Giraldo but I thought his opponent lacked the game to excel in Grass courts. He was looking quite passive out there and Roger didn’t have any difficulty in dictating play. Although Roger was not anywhere near his best and it was not needed in any case against Giraldo. Thankfully, he is also in the second week and we are just two matches away from a Roger-Rafa show down at Grass after 2008.

Michael
That’s nice sums up for Rafa. Thank you. I think he discovered it after beating Rosol. But as Skeezer pointed out at other thread his backhand slice is not good enough for grass ,and that the reason he gave so many cheap points for the opponent especial those who attack his BH. I hope Toni noticed it and he can do the adjustment.

And Re: Roger.
This man only lack mental against Rafa and stanimal against Rafa, Nole and Andy. Skill he has all, experience he owns it in tons. So outside from this 3, he has upper hand for everyone. It is about how he manage the pressure so he can dictate the match as he wishes. If he can do it. He will get eight for sure. And I honestly don’t mind if Rafa loses to this legend. Worthy of tried.

Re. Satirical. I am not. I just stated a fact of few friends of mine who are Roger fans. They cheered for Rafa opponents. Hehehe. They are scared for the semi.
What ever Rafa religion, I don’t care, all I know we all are children of God, and we do pray and love for one another. And I do my part.

Well, it’s official if Nadal, Raonic or Fer are tomake finals (they are the pnly 3 with ahots beacuse all the other are either toi experienced or are f$&@ up by schedulez), they will have to play 4 mat hes in 6 days with2 back to back. They willmost
Ikelly play, Tuesday Round of 16, Quarters on Wednesday and have day fest between semis and finals, hope they have easy katches to not compromise their level. No way Wawa or Isner or Lopez will be able to play good tennis 5 matches in 7 days sothe toruney is basically over for them.

Yes that backhand slice is not good enough for Rafa is a good point. But Rafa makes up for all such limitations in his game with his phenomenal, unique and fearsome forehand. The kind of insane angles he hits those with brute power just pulervises his opponents who are yet to find answers ? You would notice that against Kush, many of the backhand shots were converted to forehand by Rafa.

Regarding Roger, well he has a favourable H2H against Novak and Andy too (atleast in Slams and World Tour Finals – where it counts), but against Rafa he just melts down. He is just short of confidence when he is up against him and gives up the match even before it begins. There is for sure a mental block which is difficult to absolve unless he wins matches against him. But winning matches against Rafa is better said than done. If they meet again in the semis, my bets would be on Rafa to win unless Roger plays the match of his life.

Regarding this hatred against Rafa expressed by some Roger fans due to the fact that he is always a Nemesis to their idol, well what all I can say is that we need to accept the harsh fact and recognize Rafa’s superiority even if it is uncomfortable. Roger just doesn’t have it in him to beat Rafa regularly. Unless the Courts are ultra fast, he would come up short against Rafa each time they play. This is because Rafa has a better defensive game and can transition from defence to offence in quick time. He is also more consistent from the back of the court than Roger is and makes unbelievable retrieval with his atheletic abilties. Roger ofcourse in contrast is the Fed Express who plays the game with ease, grace and style. The way he plays the game with effortless and sublime ease is a sumptuous treat for Tennis fans. But, he is is in the age of defence and not offense. He needs to have a good day in Office for his aggressive Tennis to yield fruit.

Tennis Fan, could you please explain your nonsensical statement that Murray “is not even a Brit”. Do you have the least idea what a “Brit” is?

Patson, you are out to lunch and not paying attention. I have very recently explained with great care that the lack of play on the middle Sunday at Wimbledon is not a “stupid tradition”. It is a practical necessity. To repeat (why do I bother?) a grass court, unlike other surface, is ALIVE. It needs rest and attention.

Murray is certainly a true Brit. He has ancestral connection to the European tribes who built that nation. And true Brits are a dying breed in Britain, set to become minorities in their own lands within the century. Set to be conquered in other words.

Roy:
Serena is quite a bit more than her serve! Her game has always been about power, also in her groundstrokes, but the latter years she has also shown a lot af smart tennis on court, like acute angles, and last year, in the final of the USO, she outsmarted Vika by taking som e speed of her groundies, letting Vika more or less defeat herself.

The Williams sisters have never been great volleyers though, winning their doubles usually by brute power and great reactions. Venus reactions in doubles are obviously not what they used to be, and good double teams are now starting to target her. Wonder if the same is happening to Serena in singles, and partly accounts for her slight reclining quality of tennis.

I’m laughing at that comment too!! IMO she isn’t recovering after the longer rallies like she used to, due to her age. I thought she was doing lots of heavy panting and I didn’t notice it that much from Cornet. Serena, being a larger built athlete has a lot to do with that too…..but she is still #1 in the world……so she is doing something right the biggest part of the time. The age she is getting to be, we will see wins and losses just like we have with Roger.

Martina Navratilova had great insight to Serena’s year overall, the best I’ve heard. In 2012 & 2013, Serena basically ran the table on the WTA. She won almost everything. Martina thinks the cumulative effect if that dominance catches up with anyone, and so it is with Serena now. Her powerful game is just less powerful now, thanks to all the tennis in her legs the last two years. Serena is 32, not 22. So her blitzkrieg through the tour the last 24 months is coming home to roost in the form of her Serve, Forehand, Movement, and Concentration all operating at about 85% of what her normal full capacity is. The blade has become a little dull, so opportunists like Ivanovic, Muguruza and Cornet – all of whom can bash a ball pretty solidly, have exposed the duller Serena in the Majors.

Thanks to the crunched schedule for the bottom half of the draw, you have to wonder about mileage and years too. Federer & Robredo are both post-30 years old, so they have to play Tuesday, with the winner to return Wednesday. So do Raonic & Nishikori, and Nadal & Kyrigos. Wawrinka is in the worst spot of all of them – he hasn’t even played his 3rd Round match yet. Stan might have to do 3 days in a row! In Best of Five, there’s no doubt this is crunch is going to get into a few of these player’s legs at some stage.

The fact is that it is uncomfortably true that they could have kept things fair by allowing Wawrinka and the other players to get caught up today so that they had an equal chance of winning the cup.

The “living surface” requiring a break is just a lame excuse …because they could have chosen a couple of outside courts that are not critically used in the final week to provide fairness to all participants.

… now not only are Wawrinka’s chances virtually nil at winning (and everyone knows he was a serious threat to the field) but even Federer and Nadal’s chances will be diminished because they will have to play a compressed back-to-back schedule.

… now if the Wimbledon committe can just figure out a way to screw up Novak … there work is done.

… and don’t get me wrong .. I don’t blame Murray for being complicit in this unfairness … he is just going along for the ride.

… but it isn’t right no matter what kind of “tradition”,”living organism”,”neighbourhood noise” excuse you want to try to justify it with. Lets ask Wawrinka what he wants to do?

… and to the Brit fans … good luck with this years Scottish independence vote …

Dude, we’re talking about two matches on two different courts that can be played early on the Sunday morning. You have plenty of courts and only two of them would be attended to later in the evening IF they chose to play those matches i.e Sunday. The two courts on which they had played could *still* be attended to and taken care of. Why the hell would the organizers sacrifice the entire frigging day and be unfair to those two guys when all it takes is two courts to do the job ! Are you telling me that the courts are in such a bad condition that they can’t even play a single match on them on Sunday ? What a load of rubbish.

This is not so complicated Sherlock. It’s two and an octet of a match we’re talking about. Sure you need to take care of the grass, which they would because nobody is gonna play on most of the courts today.

Some of the things done by the organizers in the name of tradition can be quite baffling and it can become hugely unfair to some players. They can have a roof on the centre court and hawk eye on some courts without thinking of “tradition” even if these facilities make it even more unfair to the “unfancied” players who play on the outside courts. A bit of common sense is all that is needed. After all, there have been precedents about play on the middle Sunday. They could easily have scheduled the few remaining matches on the outside courts. I don’t know if I am missing something but I don’t think that such an obvious course of action was ruled out ONLY to let the grass breathe especially given the fact that many of the outside courts are not used as much in the second week.

GILES, so you’re saying the groundsman is a liar? This forum is becoming, like so much of the internet, a nest of conspiracy theorists.

Tennislover (is that 2 words or 1? Make up your mind)- what do you mean “things done by the organisers in the name of tradition”? They have never said they’re doing anything in the name of tradition, except perhaps the clothing issue. It’s you guys who are going on about tradition.

You say there are precedents for play on the Sunday: I’ve already answered that.

You guys want them to stage the remaining matches on outside courts, but you seem to forget there are people who have paid large sums for tickets. Lots of people. The outside courts are, you may notice, a teensy bit smaller than Centre Court. All those ticket holders would arrive today (Sunday), and then what? Admit enough to fill those outside courts and tell the rest to go back home? Tell ‘em to sit on the ground, on Henman Hill?

If you want to attack anyone for following “tradition”, methinks the US is far more culpable.
The problem with the main court, we’ve been told, is the sheer size, which makes a roof impractical.
Well, WHY is that court so huge? Because of the good old American tradition of making everything the biggest, or the tallest, the most aggressively spectacular in the world. Why anyone would pay for seats from which the players look like ants, is a mystery in itself.

Nearly forgot you, Tennis Fan. As I’ve said all along, don’t be too sure the Scots will vote for independence.

Even if they do, what problem do you think that will present to “Brit fans”?

Take a look at the Birther nonsense in the USA. The claims that Obama is not American are based on his status at birth, right? Same thing applies with regard to Andy Murray. He was born British, and even if he wasn’t, I believe he would qualify to play for Britain on account of having an English grandmother.

Ah, you cry, he wouldn’t do that, as a proud Scot.
Search the archives and find what was said by Sir Chris Hoy, a Scot who won several cycling medals for GB in 2012. He said he visited his birthplace whenever he could, and would love to live there all the time, but there simply aren’t the facilities. Velodromes are expensive!

Andy would very likely say the same, which would of course be the signal for more hatred from sub-human footie fans.

If the Scots do vote for independence, the average citizen (not everyone is interested in sport, don’t forget) won’t be too thrilled at having to pay for facilities and infrastructure. In that damp climate, tennis venues would all have to be roofed, and what the heck would that cost?

Colin. Don’t dramatise. I posted a link which is a tweet from Brad Gilbert saying the reason for no play on MS is due to neighbourhood issues.
Take the matter up with Gilbert who can then take it up with the groundsman.
In the meantime the players have to pay the price for this ridiculous rule .

Refund the spectators that day then. If they choose to stay, good. If they don’t , still good. Come what may, players play that day because nobody wants to be unfair to anybody.

Wimbledon committee should have been willing to take some monetary hit but sadly they weren’t. The message they sent was: we do not bear any responsibility for any unfairness against anybody because of the weather.

The US Open’s problem is that 1) it can rain in New York when it’s played 2) there aren’t any courts with a roof (bash USTA for that). So it’s a scheduling + logistics problem. When the US open bungles, I am ALWAYS critical of them.

Should they install roofs ? Yes. Should they move the dates around in order to minimize the impact of rain ? Yes.

But atleast the US open has been flexible enough to play the final on Monday rather than the Super Sunday when rain screws up the schedule.

No need really, we are repeating ourselves anyway(particularly the ludicrous tennisfan)
I think we are mostly in agreement that an exception should have been made for 3rd round matches, but it has not been.
The milk has been spilt.
I had already suggested here that they should have used a couple of the outer courts today, even without TV or spectators, just to get them out of the way.
But None of the slams are perfect and are seemingly very slow to respond to common sense suggestions about how they can be improved. The LTA is not a revered insitution here, in fact it is seen as the root of all evil at worst and at best a joke.
Well, at least old Novak hasn’t suffered any eh?

yeah, nole isn’t on the disadvantaged side this time, but he has been in the past; i am sure all the top players have. once at the us open nole had to play 3 five set matches in 4 days. and while i agree that these guys are fit and so on, i do think that this catches up to them.

personally i think wimbledon could’ve broken with tradition and maybe held a “people’s sunday” with 2 – 4 matches on the outer courts. it would’ve been fun for people who maybe never have a chance to see the matches because of the ticket lottery system and it would mean that those players who have not yet finished their 3rd round matches could finish them.

this was a while ago, i think maybe 2007? …anyhow one side of the draw was finished and ended up having a number of days off, whereas the other side – i think nole, rafa, gasquet come to mind – were having to play a number of days in a row. i think rafa’s match with soderling wasn’t done and was stretched over a couple of days, too.

anyhow, the point is that the players can feel the effects of that many 5 setters back-t0-back-to-back, and wimbledon does have the luxury of its courts sitting empty today. surely they could’ve scheduled 2 to 4 matches without ruining the grass or bothering the ‘hood too much. :)

about the us open, to me, the most inane thing they do with the scheduling, besides holding “super saturday” (maybe good for viewership but maybe not for players?), is stretching out the first round over 3 days! cdp, i am sure andy has had to play on the wendesday at least once. it’s nuts that they do this, considering that every final for years now has been delayed. they essentially back up the schedule from the first round – intentionally! sigh…

`yeah, nole isn’t on the disadvantaged side this time, but he has been in the past; i am sure all the top players have`

Since I’ve been watching tennis (4 years), Novak hasn’t done too badly.
Primarily due to the fact that he was pratically always drawn in Roger’s half, who was given top billing and therefore had the better scheduling. Andy was too often stuck with bloody Nadal, whom he needed breathing space from but rarely got.
Wimbledon has it’s moments but the US Open is pathetic, no roofs, the over top stadium and typhoons/hurricanes etc.
And yes Wednesday starts was asking for trouble.
Super Saturday?
More like S**teous Saturday.

“Tennislover (is that 2 words or 1? Make up your mind)- what do you mean “things done by the organisers in the name of tradition”? They have never said they’re doing anything in the name of tradition, except perhaps the clothing issue. It’s you guys who are going on about tradition.”

Regarding my nick, it was, to begin with, tennislover. Then another poster started using the same nick and I started capitalizing the t to enable other posters to differentiate between me and that poster. I have recently seen some posts from another poster called “tennis lover” and I guess this has left you confused as to who is who. I really don’t have to make up my mind. It has always been one word.

As for “tradition”, not everything has to be stated by the organizers in so many words. Their actions speak louder than what they say or “never said”. Surely, going into the color of the undies or the soles of the shoes is taking things a bit too far. I wonder why they do not paint everything at the club in white.

“You say there are precedents for play on the Sunday: I’ve already answered that.”

I am sorry but that answer must be on some other thread because I don’t see anything on this thread. It’d be very kind of you if you could give a link to that particular post of yours. In any case, if they have done it before, they can do it again. As for the ticket holders, I am sure a suitable refund policy can be framed or, maybe, it is already in place. I wonder how they handled these issues whenever they had play on the middle Sunday. I am sure the practical considerations far outweighed the commercial ones then.

As for your “attack” on the “traditon” of the US open and the USA itself, I am sure it gets a lot of flak too when it is being staged and I have myself criticized many aspects of the way it is organized. However, we are discussing wimby at the moment and pointing fingers at other events does not help much in understanding the logic behind some of the decisions taken by the wimby organizers. All I am looking for is, in the current context, the logic behind not playing today even at the cost of quite a major and unfair schedule change for the next week.

Regarding Serena’s loss, why was the women’s No 1 and 5 time Wimbledon champion playing on Court 1 and not on Center Court? She had the momentum at the start of the first set. After having to stop for 4 hours because of the rain it was like a new match and the Serena lost the momentum that she had. Had she been playing on Center court without having to stop for 4 hour its unlikely that she would have lost match.

Yes, Roger had the edge against Rafa on Grass during his prime years. However, today when he is nearing 33, I do not think he can pose a stiff challenge to Rafa especially when he has not beaten him for quite a long time.

There are some more things to take into consideration now with the rain delay rescheduling. More interesting now than ever….with having to play back to back games. I was banking on Stan to come through, but he is going to have it rough…..I’m leaning toward Novak to take it all, but wont even suggest the other finalist….too close to call. I do think Roger is playing very well and hopefully Rafa gets better as the grass loses its “class”..lol

Yes, there are many imponderables to consider with back-to-back matches being one of those. As you rightly said, this is a tough one to predict. But I do agree with you that Novak is the favourite at the moment if all things stand good and he is injury free. My gut sense tells me that we may likely be witnessing another epic Novak-Rafa final and what a prospect that would be coming after their recent French Open bout. The pressure will all be on Novak if it does happen considering that he is expected to win in faster courts against Rafa.

In my opinion, the Wimbledon authorities in order not to put too much pressure on players should have opted to play on Sunday too. I wonder why they took this flawed decision not to play which gives less time for players to settle between matches from hereon.

`My gut sense tells me that we may likely be witnessing another epic Novak-Rafa final and what a prospect that would be coming after their recent French Open bout…`

Perhaps, but at this stage Novak hasn’t done anything that makes me think he’ll get through Andy on grass. He is not giving out that kind of vibe that he will take this tournament, so far.
Also he has lost too many finals against Nadal recently and that might be what’s playing on his mind right now.
Still its week 2, and he has all the opportunity to prove me wrong.